1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multipurpose transmission mechanism for a bicycle, and in particular to a transmission mechanism comprising a clip bracket that can be easily mounted to the bicycle frame to couple a multi-mode mechanism to the bicycle frame.
2. The Related Arts
Bicycles equipped with a gear-shifting mechanism are available in the market. The gear-shifting mechanism functions to switch the operation of the bicycle among different sprockets of different speed ratios. Besides switching among different sprockets of different speed ratios, the conventional gear-shifting mechanism does not function to alert operation mode of the bicycle. This makes it only possible to exercise particular muscles in riding the bicycle. Further, a single, fixed operation mode also makes long term riding boring.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,340, entitled “Multipurpose Transmission Mechanism for Bicycles”, filed by the present inventor discloses a bicycle of which the operation mode can be changed. In other words, besides the conventional operation of continuous rotation of the pedals, other operation modes, including leverage mode and independent pedaling mode, are also available. Such variety of operation modes allows a bicycle rider to select the most suitable mode for riding and exercising. Such a transmission mechanism is also applicable to stationary bicycles.
However, the conventional multipurpose suffers some drawbacks:
(A) The bicycle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,340 requires a particular-purpose hub mounted in a rear wheel in order to allow the bicycle to carry out leverage mode operation and the particular-purpose hub is of high manufacturing costs as compared to regular hubs.
(B) The rear wheel hub of the bicycle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,340 is of heavy weight, which makes it difficult to operate for certain users.
(C) The multipurpose transmission mechanism of the bicycle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,340 is easy to malfunction.
In view of the drawbacks, the present inventor teaches in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/281,470, entitled “Improved Multifunctional Pedaling Motion Bicycle” a bicycle transmission mechanism that effectively overcomes the drawbacks discussed above. However, the known transmission mechanism must work with a particular-purpose bicycle frame. Since it does not work with regular bicycle frame, it is difficult to get popularized. In addition, it is not possible for general consumers to do assembling by themselves.
Thus, it is desired to further improve the bicycle transmission mechanism to allow easy and quick assembling and compatible wit the conventional bicycle frames.